1. Field
The present disclosure relates to network management. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method and system for efficiently detecting an edge loop in a layer-2 network.
2. Related Art
The growth of the Internet has brought with it an increasing demand for bandwidth. As a result, equipment vendors race to build larger and faster switches, each capable of supporting a large number of end devices, to move more traffic efficiently. However, the size of a switch cannot grow infinitely. It is limited by physical space, power consumption, and design complexity, to name a few factors. One way to meet this challenge is to interconnect a number of switches to support a large number of users. Interconnecting such a large number of switches in a layer-3 network requires tedious and complex configurations on a respective switch, typically performed by a network administrator. Such configuration includes assigning an address for a respective interface and configuring routing protocols for the switch. These issues can be solved by interconnecting switches via layer-2.
As layer-2 (e.g., Ethernet) switching technologies continue to evolve, more routing-like functionalities, which have traditionally been the characteristics of layer-3 (e.g., Internet Protocol or IP) networks, are migrating into layer-2. Notably, the recent development of the Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) protocol allows Ethernet switches to function more like routing devices. TRILL overcomes the inherent inefficiency of the conventional spanning tree protocol, which forces layer-2 switches to be coupled in a logical spanning-tree topology to avoid looping. TRILL allows routing bridges (RBridges) to be coupled in an arbitrary topology without the risk of looping by implementing routing functions in switches and including a hop count in the TRILL header.
While layer-2 connectivity brings many desirable features to a network, some issues remain unsolved for efficient external loop detection.